cmouli

Taken in Parma, Idaho this spring. The beautiful “sun halo” is an optical phenomenon caused by ice crystals – forming a radius of roughly 22 degrees. Literally several millions of tiny ‘hexagonal’ shaped ice crystals are the reason behind this interesting phenomena. In a hexagonal ice prism, the apex angle is 60 degrees and when light passes through, it is deflected twice leading to deviation angles in the range 22 to 50 degrees. The inner circle is reddish (21.84 degrees – red) and the outer circle is bluish (22.37 degrees – blue). No light is refracted at angles smaller than 22 degrees, so the sky is dark inside the halo! Of course, the sun is very bright – so it shines through at the center!

To create this image, I used a very wide angle lens (14mm), a steady tripod, low ISO (100) and a very small aperture (f22). Wide angle to get the entire halo and background in the frame, tripod to allow me positioning for the right composition and of course stability, low ISO to avoid any noise, small aperture to create ‘sun stars’. Sun stars are created due to diffraction of light as it passes through the tiny lens aperture and the number of “spikes” seen is proportional to the number of diaphragms in the lens aperture.

Comments welcome.

I found this "Teasel" on roadside and was immediately attracted to its prickly stem

since it offered a good test to measure sharpness in my image using a macro lens.

I learnt that there are about 15 different teasel species (genus: Dipsacus), native to

Europe, Northern Africa and Asia. Their name is derived from "thirst' - since the

leaves merge near the stem to form a cup to collect rain water. This is an interesting

adaptation perhaps to prevent insects from climbing the stem.

I used a macro lens with the right depth of focus to get a sharp image and a

completely out of focus background. This was difficult due to the unique location on

the roadside. It required being in a precarious position with my tripod but I finally

managed to get the composition I wanted.

Larry,  Thanks for your comments. These were hundreds of multiple exposures for a very long time, at high ISO (2000), largest possible aperture (f2.8) and 30 secs for each exposure for the trails, slightly longer exposure (50 secs) for the sky and glow on the tree branches. All taken on a very steady tripod (Gitzo) to avoid even the slightest vibration (except few critters, no one was around me on this still, dark night!). Nikon D800, 14-24mm lens.  Images were slightly processed in camera raw mainly for noise reduction, merged in photoshop, sharpened for web view.  Hope this helps. 

Clear night, calm winds, distant glow from the city and earliest dawn light contributed

to this image of star trails. Taken in Bruneau Sand Dunes, near Boise Idaho on a

special night when Perseid meteor showers were at its peak. Star trail images like this

take patience and luck (to avoid jet trails entering the scene during exposure!).

"Ersa" is the Greek goddess of "dew" (daughter of Zeus and the Selene (moon)). She

must have loved bright flowers - in particular, Pansies.

When I saw this bush on the roadside, I noticed an army of ants - and a butterfly was

carefully picking the right spots to enjoy the pollen and co-exist..

Even though this is not a rose, I was reminded of the song.. "dew drops and roses...

and these are my favorite things" - from "The Sound of Music", when I took this shot.

"Ersa" is the Greek goddess of "dew" (daughter of Zeus and the Selene (moon)).  She must have loved bright flowers - in particular, tulips.

Wonderful shot.  Perhaps multi-exposures - wonderful timing.

This House Finch on a Juniper stayed still for me to take a sharp image... comments

welcome.

Found this Brewer's Blackbird wandering around on the shores of Lake Tahoe this

summer. I waited for the moment when the shadows in the beach sand merged with

the bird. Comments welcome

As we pay respects to our fallen soldiers on this Memorial Day,

2015, I would like to post this image of WW II Memorial taken at

night. Comments welcome.

I was observing these Canada Geese and just hatched Goslings for a while from a

distance on a cloudy day. I knew that the scattered clouds in the sky will let the sun

beams come out around twilight - and just when a beam fell on the lake, the family

moved in!.. It was one of those magic moments. Comments welcome.

Very nice and sharp.  Looks like the flower is slightly over exposed.. but I like the background bokeh.

Great shot and nice reflections..  perhaps a slight anti-clockwise rotation would make it even better?